The eight works on this recording fall into two, slightly overlapping groups: pieces that respond to the natural world (Dark Wood, Changing Light and Trembling Air), and pieces that allude to or respond to other music (like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment, Arioso/ Doubles and Nocturne/Doubles, Traces). The first group is connected to Broening’s experiences in Estonia. A Fulbright brought Broening to Tallinn in 2007 and in the following years he returned a number of times for concerts, lectures and to compose, spending much of his time in the forests, islands and fields. Broening’s music couples his interest in the expressive power of sound with a sense of line derived from his background as a singer, the music here combining acoustic instruments with electronic processing. This recording marks the debut on Bridge of the brilliant Chicago-based, two-time Grammy Award-winning sextet, eighth blackbird.